Dr Amy Burge
@dramyburge.bsky.social
Associate Professor of popular fiction. Romance specialist. Managing Editor of the Journal of Popular Romance Studies. Network Lead for Muslim Women's Popular Fiction project. She/her. Currently writing about bonkbusters with @jodimca.bsky.social
Thrilled to be back at the #RNAConf26 and to be talking more about the incredible scholarship out there on romantic fiction! I always learn so much at RNA events, and meet the NICEST people 💕
@jodimca.bsky.social and I wrote a thing for @theconversation.com on the new season of Rivals! theconversation.com/rivals-seaso...
Rivals season 2: Jilly Cooper’s Rutshire drama shows good sex from a woman’s point of view
Rivals prioritises the female gaze when it comes to the bonkbuster sex scenes, explaining its enduring popularity among women.
theconversation.com
www.thebookseller.com/news/bolinda... Well this is interesting.
Bolinda creates ‘AI-cloned’ voice of Barbara Cartland for new audiobooks
Bolinda Audio has partnered with the Estate of Dame Barbara Cartland in an exclusive agreement to develop audiobooks from the author’s catalogue of more than 700 titles, creating a “bespoke AI-cloned”...
thebookseller.com
My article on masculinity for the forthcoming special issue of @jprstudies.bsky.social on African romance novels has been published online! This one has been in the works for some time - I'm so pleased it is officially out in the world :) www.jprstudies.org/2026/05/a-de...
A Decolonised Alpha Hero? Negotiating Masculinities in Nigerian Romance Novels | Journal of Popular Romance Studies
Introduction Women of all ages have always enjoyed romance. They ask for it in their movies, in their music, from their lovers and in their books. But in Africa, they have had to find it in the pages ...
jprstudies.org
On my way to give a talk at @northumbriauni.bsky.social and it feels entirely appropriate to be prepping next week's class on Catherine Cookson on the train!
Did Regency romance mad libs with my students today (from Beyond Heaving Bosoms by @smartbitches.bsky.social) so am I a cool teacher now?
We have been researching her works for a few years now - @jodimca.bsky.social and I wrote about the late Jilly Cooper's work and the readers who loved her for @theconversation.com doi.org/10.64628/AB....
Jilly Cooper: why readers still cherish her ‘fat, fun, frothy novels’
Many of Cooper’s depictions of sex are very funny. However, there is a clear message throughout.
urldefense.com
Finally received a copy of this from the publisher (although ebook only, and I can't download it?!) and was reminded that @menysnoweballes.bsky.social and I wrote some SMART thoughts (probably all from Rachel tbh).
Rachel Moss@menysnoweballes.bsky.social · 11mo agoHi Barbies! Pleased that @dramyburge.bsky.social & my chapter, '‘The man behind the tan’: Ken’s Trumpian Absurdity' has been published in the exciting new book The Barbie Phenomenon, Volume 1! www.routledge.com/The-Barbie-P...
Hi Barbies! Pleased that @dramyburge.bsky.social & my chapter, '‘The man behind the tan’: Ken’s Trumpian Absurdity' has been published in the exciting new book The Barbie Phenomenon, Volume 1! www.routledge.com/The-Barbie-P...
a close up of a barbie doll with blonde hair
ALT: a close up of a barbie doll with blonde hair
media.tenor.com
Cover reveal! @dramyburge.bsky.social and I revealed the cover of our new academic book, The Bonkbuster: Women's Popular Reading in the Long 1980s, at the @iaspr.bsky.social conference today. Out January 2026! www.bloomsbury.com/uk/bonkbuste...
I wrote a blog post about my book! Want some ramblings about fairy ladies, magical princesses, and serpent women (and how we should feel about them)? Or just curious about how reading medieval romance is like watching Star Wars?? It's all here, folks (and also a 35% discount 👀)!
Boydell & Brewer@boydellandbrewer.bsky.social · last yr.From exotic princesses to wicked witches, Jane Bonsall explores how magical femininity was imagined by romance readers in late #medieval England in our latest blog post: buff.ly/edWgwaj @janebonsall.bsky.social
The promotion trajectory of Wrexham AFC (3x in 3 years) is *literally* the plot of Jilly Cooper's book Tackle!, so which owner is secretly Rupert Campbell-Black: Ryan Reynolds or Rob McElhenney?
Today was @alcs.co.uk payment day! Always a delightful surprise, and a reminder authors should be paid for their work. A less delightful surprise this week was finding out that 8 things I've published, including the monograph based on my PhD research, have been used by Meta to train their AI.
There I was, minding my own business, reading my Jackie Collins (technically work as @jodimca.bsky.social would attest) when I was asked about what I was reading for Read This podcast! Always delighted to talk about bonkbusters (I'm on at 7:20). open.spotify.com/episode/31Er...
Mine and @jodimca.bsky.social's piece on the Rivals TV show for @uk.theconversation.com has been picked up by RNZ! www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...
Rivals: the highs and lows of adapting a 1980s 'bonkbuster' for a 21st-century TV audience
The bonkbuster receded into the background of popular culture in the 21st century. So why is it having a cultural moment in 2024?
rnz.co.nz
Today is a reading day at the State Library of Victoria 📖
This is tomorrow!! @dramyburge.bsky.social and I will be presenting our keynote on bonkbusters first up, from 10:15-11:15am. If you're in Melbourne, come along and let us tell you about some truly bonkers books.
Jodi McAlister@jodimca.bsky.social · 2y agoIf you're in Melbourne on Thursday 21 November - @dramyburge.bsky.social and I are keynoting this symposium on Nostalgia and Popular Culture, where we'll be speaking about our research on bonkbusters. Registration here (it's free).
Couldn't find her handle before but this article partly looks at @brijbautista.bsky.social's novel You, Me, U.S. (2019)
Dr Amy Burge@dramyburge.bsky.social · 2y agoNow that it's fully open access, happy to share this article of mine that was recently published in Literature, Critique, and Empire Today (formerly Journal of Commonwealth Literature) on marriage migration in romance novels by Helen Hoang and Brigitte Bautista! journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
Now that it's fully open access, happy to share this article of mine that was recently published in Literature, Critique, and Empire Today (formerly Journal of Commonwealth Literature) on marriage migration in romance novels by Helen Hoang and Brigitte Bautista! journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10....
I had an absolutely wonderful time at Edith Cowan Uni in Perth talking all things Love Studies with Madalena Grobbelar, Elizabeth Reid Boyd and Debra Dudek! Dream collaboration team - and there is TONS of exciting research coming out of the ECU network.
ICYMI, Melbourne! @dramyburge.bsky.social and I are psyched to be giving this keynote to talk all about the books and readers of Jackie Collins, Jilly Cooper, Shirley Conran and Judith Krantz.
Jodi McAlister@jodimca.bsky.social · 2y agoIf you're in Melbourne on Thursday 21 November - @dramyburge.bsky.social and I are keynoting this symposium on Nostalgia and Popular Culture, where we'll be speaking about our research on bonkbusters. Registration here (it's free).
Hi everyone! Happily resharing that my little book will be out in the world on 28th November. It is about the anglophone romance reading fandom in Pakistan, book history, & some bits of postcolonialism. #AcademicChatter #AcademicSky #Romancelandia www.bloomsbury.com/uk/romance-f...
Romance Fandom in 21st-Century Pakistan
Romance Fandom in 21st-century Pakistan offers the first major study of English-speaking romance fandom in South Asia, providing a new reader-centric model that…
bloomsbury.com
Had THE BEST time chatting about Rivals and mine and @jodimca.bsky.social's research on Ireland AM this morning! This is my in-the-office-before-8.15am face 😂
For anyone else watching the Disney+ adaptation of Jilly Cooper's Rivals, released today, @jodimca.bsky.social and I wrote a piece for @uk.theconversation.com! theconversation.com/rivals-the-h...
Rivals: the highs and lows of adapting a 1980s ‘bonkbuster’ for a 21st-century TV audience
Even those unfamiliar with the genre will no doubt enjoy the adaption of Jilly Cooper’s frothy novel. But how will the TV version approach the less savoury attitudes that were prevalent in the 1980s?
theconversation.com
I learned enough on my last trip to Australia to understand what this film is about (and also why it should have been released on the 21st December) youtu.be/K_Fwe9Q6NB0?...
How To Make Gravy | Official Trailer | BINGE
YouTube video by BINGE
youtu.be
Hey Australian scholars! Do you have some thoughts on nostalgia and popular fiction? Deakin's having a symposium on November 21! @dramyburge.bsky.social & I are delighted to be the keynotes, presenting some of our work on bonkbusters. Full CFP link here (goes to a PDF): bit.ly/3ZidjRJ
It's behind a paywall, but I was quoted in a piece on Colleen Hoover in the Irish Sunday Independent's Life magazine this weekend! www.independent.ie/entertainmen...
The CoHo boom: How Colleen Hoover’s trauma-filled novels became such a global phenomenon
A young woman sits on her couch, an open book in her hands, its partially obscured pastel pink cover immediately recognisable as Colleen Hoover’s global sensation It Ends with Us (IEWU). While a mourn...
independent.ie
Great article! If you're collecting info on more ethical academic journals, the independent Journal of Popular Romance Studies @jprstudies.bsky.social (for which I am the current managing editor) has been open access with no fees since 2009 and is indexed in Scopus/Scimago. www.jprstudies.org
Journal of Popular Romance Studies
The Journal of Popular Romance Studies is an interdisciplinary journal exploring popular romance media and other instances of romantic love in global culture.
jprstudies.org
Jodi McAlister@jodimca.bsky.social · 2y agoIf you didn't already know that academic publishing is a racket - this beautifully outlines all the myriad ways in which it routinely extorts everyone involved with it.